Can I make £1 million from my artwork?

As long as I can recall I’ve been a dreamer. As a boy I savoured blank paper because it crawled with possibility.

But taking it off the paper and into the real world took a few more years.

The first time my fanciful dreaming tried to walk the bridge from my mind to the real world was as a twenty year old when I placed an advertisement in the local newspaper to sell my old car. Instead of asking the $1,000 it was worth I placed a $7,334 price tag (a specific price I’d heard was more believable) with an explanation it would help rich people appreciate their luxury car.  

This brings me to what I created yesterday and the ultimate expression of my twenty year old self's idea: a magical proposition to make £1 million from my artwork.

You see,  an artist isn't just making art but is trying to find a way into a human heart by floating over the moat of your natural defenses.

This week, I took that boyhood dream, a heartfelt imaginary tale and (as part of Quest Of The Four Questions) a way to help the CEO of Aston Martin care.

I’ve put a lot of fishing nets out into the ocean of possibility (A request for Coke, Writing to a billionaire and now Aston Martin) now I try to reel something in. And that’s to where I turn next.

Oh, and if you'd like to have your very own print of the magical rusty old car I'd love to send it to you.

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.

The whole journey:  The Adventures Of Oscar Finch

This week two things dawned on me as I wrestle with my Quest Of The Four Questions (how to get more humans to see my artwork, to care, to give money and before I’m dead).

First, humanity’s greatest quests always set unfathomable imagination-capturing goals. In 1961 Kennedy declared he wanted to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, in 1960 Nike’s goal was to ‘crush Adidas’ and in 1495 Christopher Columbus proposed to reach the East by sailing West.

Second, life is shorter when you realise Buddy Holly died a year into his fame at 22 and if you see your parents once a year that may only be a further ten times.

So today I’m sharing unfathomable goals for my Quest Of The Four Question. I’ll keep a tally in my sketchbook to share with you…

(If you gasped, then, good!)

Of course to help thousands of people care starts with one, so I wanted to share this encouraging note from someone that hinted I’m on a right track. It’s why I spend the dark early mornings alone with my ink, thoughts and imagination. They purchased an award-winning piece of mine about travellers on a bus called ‘Tales from the 470’.

“Yes, I really am happy to support your imagination and hope lots of others do too. I love the idea that someone is out there in my own neighbourhood noticing things in a way that gives us all pause to look at things better and deeper. Keep on looking.”

I also know that people care most when they are familiar with my subject matter so here are two more pieces inspired by people I spotted at my first World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition (the body-swapping machine and the wizard)...

With a grand goal I now need to make some big bets and that’s to where I turn next…

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Previous post: Why we're all like this artwork of mine (and my challenge to you…)

The whole journey: 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition' Adventure

For the past month I've been on an epic adventure to answer the four questions that torture all artists. So I'd like a quiet fireside chat with you to reflect for a moment.  

(I call it ‘Quest Of The Four Questions’ which are how to get more humans to see my artwork, to care, to give money and before I’m dead).

Let me explain the predicament of the first question by sharing the tale of a man named Galbraith.  

You see, Galbraith's predicament is that of all artists on earth. But it's also yours if you long to write a book or sing a song or merge your conglomerate to make the world's largest. You're a Galbraith if you want to create something for other people.

But if getting more humans to see my work was the only question to answer I would purchase a Times Square billboard (incidentally, if you can help me with this I'll happily accept...). Inspiring people to care is another matter.

That's why I hide in plain sight around the city and capture unnoticed people then imagine their tales. Tales have a way of floating over the defenses of humans and piercing their hearts.

Here is an artwork I completed recently that inspired care (there were supportive people and ridiculing, but people definitely cared)...

The City Of Sydney and City Of Brisbane both shared it with their parking inspectors which was a victory for the second question.

I'd now like to give you (yes, you reading this now) a small challenge for the next one week. I hope it will help you care...

I'd love to hear how you go (just contact me here).

Next up I've got an unusual way to answer the Quest Of The Four Questions.

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.

Previous post: The theft of my Honesty Box art (and does a sign make all the difference?)

The whole journey: 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition' Adventure

Getting people to care about my artwork is the second in my Quest Of The Four Questions (right after getting more human beings see my artwork).

There was a time when no one cared for Picasso's silly triangles or Damien Hirst’s gaudy gold art because tomorrow’s masterpieces are unloved today. Or worse, unnoticed.

So I did two things this week with my World’s 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition to inspire care (and a thief - or the wind - but more on that in a moment).

First, I displayed my hand written sign that explains the story of the Honesty Box on a prominent window ledge in Clarence Street.  I’ve learnt the voodoo magic of a story to ignite human imagination (and watched as passersby read it).

Second, price is the town crier of value so I added $120 price tags to some of my personally signed original prints.

What happened? Upon returning less than an hour later they were gone (accompanied by a spike in visits to my website from that location).

Some may be shaken by the prospect of a thief in my midst who took valuable unattended goods but what better proof that a human being cares about my artwork? (after all, the greatest artists have been subject to art heists).

On a quainter note I also shared this Emma and Tom’s juice print with the owner’s of that brand and gifted a number of similar pieces to the architectural firm whose window ledge I used above. It showed me the power of telling a story not to passing foot traffic but one on one, to individuals that inspires care.

There was also a near-miss for serendipity. I wrote a note on facebook to Gumption Coffee (in The Strand, Sydney) after a print of mine was collected by their wait staff. I was contacted by someone who’d flown in to see the Archibald Prize and missed finding it by merely 15 minutes.

Where will the Honesty Box take me next? I’ll soon find out.

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.

Previous post: What happens when art is left on a seat? (and other public places)

The whole journey: 'World's 1st Ever Honesty Box Gallery Exhibition' Adventure

My name is Oscar Finch and I’m an artist and storyteller. But let me confess something. I can’t use oil paint to reproduce a majestic scene or breathtaking Renaissance portrait. But neither can Damien Hirst. Nor Tracey Emin. Nor Banksy. Nor Picasso.

But we know their names because they answered the questions few artists ever do (...4 by my count).

How can more humans to see my work? What will make them care when they see it? What will make them care enough to give me money? And before I'm dead? (I’m looking at you Vincent Van Gogh).

Those are the questions I'm hoping to answer as I set sail on the most daunting adventure of my life and I’m inviting you in to see where the road leads (and for help along the way). It’s a tale of one artist but also all artists and I’m calling it 'The Quest Of The Four Questions'.

My first adventure (white walls, poor artists and beautiful people...)

This year I entered the famous Archibald Portrait Prize held in the magnificent Art Gallery Of New South Wales. At the opening night I realised I was surrounded by mostly poor artists painting in the hopes of rich, immaculately beautiful (and sartorially eccentric) people noticing their works in a giant building with white walls. It’s a wonderful and curious world but not the natural habitat of humans.

So the first adventure on my quest to answer the four questions is to do the very opposite. It will bring my art and tales to where humans walk and talk and stand and think.

How?

When I a boy, my family passed an unattended roadside fruit stand with a sign that read $2 per bunch. Alongside it was a simple container with ‘honesty box’ handwritten on its front. I gazed, awestruck by the inexplicable magic happening right before my eyes. There was an invisible meeting of human beings around that box called trust.

I’m going to try replicating that very magic as I hold...

In public places I’m going to display personally signed original prints with an honesty box. Then I’ll start to experiment.

What will happen? I'm unsure, but I’ll share the ride here on my Oscar Finch's Adventures Blog.

These are just a few of the personally signed original prints of my artworks I'll display first (you can also purchase one for yourself here).

I have some radical plans afoot...

If you'd like to follow my adventures I'd love to keep you in the loop by subscribing to my newsletter here.